Remembering the sociable friend, brother, uncle who died in fire

Christopher Lee Miller’s youngest sister, Jennifer Miller; mother, Susan Miller; and middle sister, Stephanie Martin, with a photo of Miller at home in Verona Thursday morning. He was killed in a fire in Holly Ridge early Tuesday morning.

Maria Sestito / The Daily News

By CHRISTOPHER THOMAS Daily News Staff

Published: Friday, February 21, 2014 at 08:00 AM.

Millered: a verb. A moment of peace interrupted by a friend or relative to partake in a potentially exciting experience.

According to his friends and family, Christopher Lee Miller was the inspiration for this word because of his tendency to spontaneously contact the people in his life to share in an “adventure.

“You were planning an easy night at the house, watching TV, and Chris would show up and you gotta go somewhere,” said Alan Jones, a friend of Miller’s. “Next thing you knew, you were in the truck about to go and do who knows what with him. That’s getting ‘Millered.’”

Miller’s younger sisters, Jennifer Miller and Stephanie Martin, said Christopher Miller was the sort of person it was impossible to say “no,” to; but on Feb. 18, his sisters, along with the rest of the people in his life, had to say something even harder to the 35-year-old Sneads Ferry native: “goodbye.

“We’re just trying to take it day-by-day,” Martin said. “I’ve lost people in my life...grandparents, aunts...but this is different. There are still so many questions we have about it all. I imagined we were going to grow old together, but we won’t.”

Investigators answered a call soon after midnight Tuesday about a fire at 303 Kennys Ave. at the Dixon Estates mobile home park. Two occupants, Sarah Giddens and her daughter, Emma, survived with injuries stemming from smoke inhalation.

Millered: a verb. A moment of peace interrupted by a friend or relative to partake in a potentially exciting experience.

According to his friends and family, Christopher Lee Miller was the inspiration for this word because of his tendency to spontaneously contact the people in his life to share in an “adventure.

“You were planning an easy night at the house, watching TV, and Chris would show up and you gotta go somewhere,” said Alan Jones, a friend of Miller’s. “Next thing you knew, you were in the truck about to go and do who knows what with him. That’s getting ‘Millered.’”

Miller’s younger sisters, Jennifer Miller and Stephanie Martin, said Christopher Miller was the sort of person it was impossible to say “no,” to; but on Feb. 18, his sisters, along with the rest of the people in his life, had to say something even harder to the 35-year-old Sneads Ferry native: “goodbye.

“We’re just trying to take it day-by-day,” Martin said. “I’ve lost people in my life...grandparents, aunts...but this is different. There are still so many questions we have about it all. I imagined we were going to grow old together, but we won’t.”

Investigators answered a call soon after midnight Tuesday about a fire at 303 Kennys Ave. at the Dixon Estates mobile home park. Two occupants, Sarah Giddens and her daughter, Emma, survived with injuries stemming from smoke inhalation.

Christopher Miller also was in the mobile home that morning.

Family and friends say now all they have of Miller are memories, photographs and belongings of a man they said never knew a stranger.

“He was a good guy,” said Andrew Martin, Christopher Miller’s brother-in-law. “He would go up to people who he didn’t know and he’d have a new friend. There’s no way you couldn’t like him.”

Jones said Christopher Miller’s sociable nature was evident in almost every aspect of his life but was most apparent in the days when cell phones were less prevalent than they are today. According to Jones, whenever you let Christopher Miller borrow your cell phone, it would be a while before you’d see it again.

“He’d ask to borrow it and he’d call everyone he knew to see how they’re doing and what they were up to,” Jones said. “You look back at your call history afterward and it would be two or three pages long with just his calls and he’d always remember the numbers.”

Christopher Miller’s mother, Susan Miller, remembers her son as someone who could be stubborn and unrelenting but always had a heart for his family, friends and virtually everyone else he came in contact with.

Susan Miller said a couple of her son’s favorite people in the world were his nephews and the Martins’ children, Alex and Ayden, who would build forts and go fishing with their only uncle.

She said her son would usually find a way to get her to see things his way, including an instance when Christopher Miller brought a homeless man to her home.

“(Chris) was telling me ‘he needs a shower and he needs to spend the night here,’” Susan Miller said. “I said ‘OK, but for one night’ and that’s what happened. Just shows his compassion for others. You couldn’t misunderstand Chris and what kind of person he was.”

Andrew Martin said Christopher Miller didn’t only love the people in his life, but the town he called him.

“When some people look at Sneads Ferry, they go ‘ew,’ but Chris saw the beauty in Sneads Ferry,” Andrew Martin said. “He loved the water, the people and the beach. You could always find him out at the water.”

With his passing, members of Christopher Miller’s circle of friends and family said they’re still left with questions.

“We just want to know the truth of what happened,” Susan Miller said. “We hope the truth comes out and we can have closure about this.”

According to the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, a breaking and entering was reported at the same trailer at approximately 7 p.m. the night of the fire. Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said both matters are still under investigation and it isn’t clear if they’re related or not.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, however Brown confirmed the fire started in the kitchen area of the trailer.

The official cause of Miller’s death is still not known, but an autopsy is pending.

Fire Marshal Brian Kelly said approximate damages to the house were $10,000 and it was a total loss.

Christopher Thomas is a staff writer at The Daily News. To contact him, send an e-mail to christopher.thomas@jdnews.com.